Sports

DWS celebrates win vs. Sherwood, dedication of new soccer facility

• The Lady Knights dominate Sherwood, 8-0, then turn around and take part in a dedication ceremony for the school’s new soccer field.

Derek Barichello

ALBANY — At the dedication ceremony for Deerfield-Windsor’s new soccer field Tuesday evening, first-year head coach Tony Voyles uttered the magic words.

“Since you gave us this nice soccer field,” Voyles said to applause from DWS boosters and contributors to the new field, “it is my responsibility to build a soccer dynasty.”

If the game played before the ceremony was any indication — that dynasty might just come to fruition.

The Lady Knights scored eight goals and shut down GISA Region 3-AAA and city rival Sherwood Christian Academy to remain perfect in four region games.

Shelby Cosby was responsible for three of those goals, while Ivy Puckett and Lacey Kincheloe both scored twice.

But the bigger story was the new soccer facility and what it meant for the program.

Since the beginning of DWS soccer, both the boys and girls have played at Darton College, the YMCA and the football field, but no place they could call home.

That changed when Larry Walden, owner of the open lot across Friar Tuck Lane, told head schoolmaster W.T. Henry the school could use his property.

Though he did not sell the property to Deerfield, he agreed that if it was ever sold, DWS would be the first to know.

Wanting a soccer field and needing extra parking for events, White acted quickly.

He was able to get $75,000 of the more than $100,000 project donated – which includes labor, the plumbing for the field’s watering system, the sod, the clearing of the land and other miscellaneous necessities.

White used Tuesday’s dedication ceremony to those individuals for making the project possible.

“This is a wonderful thing,” White said of the 100 by 65 yard field, which has a small parking lot on the south side and fence that wraps around the east, north and west sides of the facility, setting it apart from Nottingham Way, a wooded area and apartment complex. “It’s nice to know we have a family here.”

Of course, the Lady Knights are excited to call the new field “home” and even sneak in an advantage behind that.

DWS is a perfect 4-0 at the new facility, including its first ever win against GISA No. 4 Stratford.

“Most of the Macon teams are used to longer fields,” Crosby said as her Lady Knights improved to 5-5-1 with the win. “This field is a little wider. So, we’ve worked on touch passing and focused a lot on just passing.”

With new sod and a field sloped toward the center, the ball plays faster and perfectly into the gameplan of Voyles’ Lady Knights.

“I feel like I have a fast and athletic team,” Voyles said. “We like to play an up-tempo game.”

The only foreseeable disadvantage at this point seems to be with the neighbors.

Although there have been no complaints, kicked balls pelted an adjacent apartment complex to the east end of the field. There are two large nets in place behind each goal to catch errant kicks but they only extend approximately 15 yards wide.

“That’s a concern,” Voyles said. “I’m even more concerned with balls going out onto (Nottingham Way) into traffic.”

But it is just another oddity the Deerfield will get used to. And another peculiar advantage Voyles hopes to use in building his dynasty.

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